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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Terrors From the Sea!

Between Bermuda Triangle, horrifying deep sea creatures, cryptid monsters, mermaids, haunted lighthouses, shipwrecks, ghost ships and more - the sea is the location of a great deal of horror!

I think the sea is the most amazing mystery. We float atop of it, but beneath is a world of mystery and death.

Flying Dutchman

This legend involves a ghost that sank 1641 off the Cape of Good Hope. The captain cursed the ship as it was sinking that he would continue to sail it to doomsday. The legend became a ship forced to sail the seas for an eternity. The movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" portrayed this concept quite nicely. Many areas of the ocean and even the Great Lakes have tales of the Flying Dutchmen.

Japanese Ghost Ship

This ghost ship was found adrift a year after the Japanese earthquake. Gives one chills to imagine ships with no one sailing them.

Amelia Earhart

This 1930s female pilot in a male-dominated field, wanted to push her records at flight again and again. In 1937, she decided she wanted to try to fly around the world. What happened next has remained a great aviation mystery even 80 plus years later. Over the Pacific, she went into radio silence and was never heard or seen from again. There were a lot of theories that the Japanese shot her down and took her as a prisoner of war, that she landed on an island and lived there until finally passing, or that she simply ran out of gas. One thing we learn as we study these sea-related creepy things, the water hides its victims and at sea there are no witnesses.

Shipwrecks

The largest loss of life in a single ship disaster in the US was considered the wreck of the SS Eastland on the Chicago River in Illinois in 1915. When all was said and done, 844 passengers lost their lives on what was going to be a festive occasion. The precariously built ship had a narrow hull and when loaded with over 2500 passengers and new post-Titanic regulation for lifeboats which were mounted high, it pitched one way and another with the weight of the passengers shifting on the deck. It finally listed onto its side and the effects were tragic.

Philadelphia Experiment

I

Here’s the concept for the Philadelphia Experiment:

The legend revolves around a supposed 1943 experiment led by the Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on a ship called the USS Eldridge. According to the tale, this was an attempt at trying out the unified field theory laid out by Albert Einstein. The idea was to find a way to bend light around an object so it becomes invisible, thus making an ideal warship in dealing with the enemy during WWII. The ship was reported to be rigged with four immense generators along with Tesla coils, electron tubes and many miles of inch-thick cable running throughout the ship’s cables.

The ship took off from Philly to Norfolk, turning on this equipment, whereupon it was shrouded in a green fog and then disappeared. This resulted in an accidental teleportation back to Philly from Norfolk. When the ship arrived, accounts say that the men were in agony, sick, mentally crippled, and many were dead, some even fused to the hull of the ship!

Although it made for a fantastic movie (a must see), the Philadelphia Experiment is regarded by the military as a bunch of hooey. There’s still conspiracy folks who hang onto it and, why not? After all, aren’t we the folks who sent chimps into space? Had our own astronauts burn on a launch pad? Tested nuclear weapons with visitors gazing upon the glory on the New Mexico sands? Dropped bombs on Japan that caused huge devastation? Built a secret base in Nevada? It doesn’t seem our government/military has a lot of boundaries when it comes to our individual welfare, only our welfare as a conglomerate(save our country), screw the individuals (people are expendable, countries are not). So, there is that excuse for people to hang onto the notion of such an horrendous experiment.

Bermuda Triangle

This region in the Atlantic has supposedly claimed the lives of thousands of people over the centuries, and yet according to statistics, it is not even one of the top 10 most dangerous areas in the seas around the world. Yet, the mystique of it has been built up over the decades of people reporting strange fogs, instruments that won't work, even an entire squadron of planes going missing during military exercises. Explanations have ranged from a portal to another dimension, electromagnetic earth issues, alien intervention, time travel, and more. The actual source of all these missing and wrecked ships and planes hasn't been identified absolutely, but on any given part of the ocean, we are likely to find a great pile of similar missing vessels.

Sea Monsters

Mermaids, dinosaur-like creatures, giant octopus; all reported throughout time including the ancient tales of sirens luring sailors onto the rocks. With all the unknown beneath them, bad weather, lack of supplies, fear of getting lost, there were lots of reasons for sailors to develop tales over the centuries to explain misfortune. Some of the tales are quite romantic, like the half female/half fish mermaid, and some are more terrifying, like giant octopus taking down a ship. Today, we still find odd things upon the beach and have to wonder....

Haunted Lighthouses

Why are lighthouses reportedly so haunted? Is it the isolation? The shipwrecks? The fog? Is it the cylindrical shape combined with pounding water on the rocks and a huge amount of power to produce the light creating a nature-made battery? Whatever the explanation, some lighthouses get a real reputation and perhaps one that had their reputation jump overnight for being featured on a very chilling episode of "Ghost Hunters" was St. Augustine Lighthouse in Florida that saw a few deaths and had a lot of reported phenomena. While there, the team captured a shadow figure that seemed to move many floors at once and a woman screaming for help, as well as whispered conversations.

Deep Sea Creatures

The sea comes up with some weird creatures, but the deeper you go, the weirder they get -

Carroll A. Deering

The Carroll A. Deering was a 5-masted ship that in 1921 came aground in Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, with all the crew missing. It was one of the greatest sea mysteries. There are many theories from piracy to Bermuda Triangle and everything in between. The log and navigation equipment, life rafts and personal belongings were all gone from the ship. Yet, the galley showed foods in various states of meal preparation. It still remains a sea mystery whispered about in wonder and fear.

Mary Celeste

In 1872, the merchant ship, “Mary Celeste” sailed left in November from New York to Genoa. On December 5th, halfway between the Azores and Portugal, the captain of the ship “Dei Gratia” sighted the Mary Celeste ship that he recognized. The only problem was it was riding out of control which was not at all something the ship’s pious and stern captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs, would have ever allowed. The captain hailed the other ship, but for hours he got no response.He then set off on a small boat with some men to board her.The men found the ship to be seaworthy and having the appearance of being left in a rush. The investigating captain’s impression by the possessions left behind is that the crew left in a rush for fear the ship was sinking. The ship had contained 7 crewmen, the captain, the captain’s wife, and his small child.Over the years, this story has become filled with tales of steaming cups of coffee and food on the stove and such being found. This was not the actual case. Here is what the captain of the “Dei Gratia” found:One pump out of orderTwo hatches off and a fair amount of water between the decksThe clock and compass were destroyedNo alcohol was found on boardThe chronometer and sextant were not found on boardThe ship’s register and captain’s log were both goneThe stove was off kilter and dishes strewn and lots of water in the galleyThere were no boats on boardWe’re left with many theories from a small explosion caused by munitions onboard to a rogue wave, and the fact that there had been strong storms for days that may have overwhelmed the ship’s capabilities. With the crew and captain and his family exiting on the small boats, they would have become victims of the rough sea.Many legends have continued about the ship being a victim of some supernatural occurrence of the Bermuda Triangle variety. Even though these were dismissed, the fact remains; for a time the Mary Celeste was a ghost ship in the true sense, wandering the sea without a crew.But why?

Flying Dutchman Ship

The Flying Dutchman ship has been spotted many times in the last two centuries, with the late King George V of England writing a detailed account of his own sighting in 1880 off the coast of Australia: "At 4 a.m. the Flying Dutchman crossed our bows. A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the masts, spars, and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief as she came up on the port bow, where also the officer of the watch from the bridge clearly saw her, as did the quarterdeck midshipman, who was sent forward at once to the forecastle; but on arriving there was no vestige nor any sign whatever of any material ship was to be seen either near or right away to the horizon, the night being clear and the sea calm. Thirteen persons altogether saw her...At 10.45 a.m. the ordinary seaman who had this morning reported the Flying Dutchman fell from the foretopmast crosstrees on to the topgallant forecastle and was smashed to atoms."

Abandoned Islands

Hashima Island in Japan was once a thriving mining island and then the residents were moved out in 1974 when the coal facility closed down. It's sat as an intact abandoned island for decades. Recently, a decision was made to allow curious tours of the place.

Real Life Castaway

Found on the Pacific Ocean, this man is (deliriously) happy to be home! This man from El Salvador said he caught fish, drank bird's blood and was adrift for 13 months! His ship was covered in algae when they found him and had been retreating under a plastic container to avoid the sunlight.

Surviving a Tsunami

This father and son on a boating trip rode a wave that, well, was like something out of a cartoon. And, they survived!

Why do ghost ships seem like such romantic images? Perhaps because if the crew is not aboard, it is still sailing with no one to handle it. Where is the crew? Davy Jones' locker, huh? You can take a person out of a car, but the car will crash. A ship, could float months, even years, without facing doom and sinking or even being found. It's a vast ocean out there!

I'd suggest you watch "The Fog" (original) if you're in the mood for a ghost ship now.

You might be in the mood for this song about a sea tragedy -

RECOMMENDED MOVIES

The Devil's Triangle (1974): Documentary about the Bermuda Triangle.

Satan's Triangle: (1975): The female survivor of a shipwreck and two Coast Guard helicopter pilots sent to rescue her find themselves trapped in a mysterious part of the ocean known as Satan's Triangle.

Jaws: A tourist island on Fourth of July is terrorized by a monster great white shark. Castaway: Following a plane wreck, a man is left alone for years on an island and then finds his way home only to find he wasn't who he was when he went missing.

Titanic: Fictionalized movie based on the events that occurred when the Titanic sank.

Dead Calm: A couple grieves the loss of a child and so goes on a quiet sea trip only to rescue a lone survivor in a life raft who puts them through hell.

The Fog: A town has to come to grips with their dark past and the ship of ghosts who want to roll in with the fog and take their lives one by one.

The Haunted Sea: A crew finds an abandoned ship at sea and an Aztec cursed treasure on board.The Creature From the Black Lagoon: A team goes to the Amazon to check out a potential relic monster only to find out it's still alive.

Lost Voyage: Twenty five years ago, the SS Corona Queen disappeared in the region known as, "The Bermuda Triangle". Now, it has returned. Seven people go on board to learn the truth behind her disappearance but the ship did not return alone..

Pirates of the Caribbean: Based on the Disney ride, this sea tale is a rich and beautiful one, lighthearted, and romantic.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir:

Halflight: A woman grieving for her dead child rents a cabin on the shore in Scotland only to find a man living alone in the lighthouse on an island off shore, a man that might be a ghost.

The Triangle: (2001) A group of friend send up in the Triangle.

Cruise Into Terror: (1978)A pleasure cruise is carrying an Egyptian sarcophagus with the son of Satan inside.

Death Ship: A team of salvage workers find a ship dead in the water and look it over for some goods only to find that it's occupied - by ghosts.

The Philadelphia Experiment: Did the military create a time rift to WWII era?Leviathan: Deep sea underwater miners might have run into ET.20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: A ship encounters a strange underwater submersible that shouldn't exist in their time period.Sea Beast: A crew on a ship has to deal with a weird monster in the water.

2 comments:

Wow, what a huge post! Thanks for posting. I love the sea creatures. The blog 'Cinema Suicide' had one of the best posts on this topic that I've ever seen: http://www.cinema-suicide.com/2010/10/03/31-ghost-stories-%E2%80%93-day-3-the-ss-ourang-medan/I love his opening paragraph, LOL.

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